Quarter-Final preview: Will USA rebound in style, or can Italy pull off upset?
MANILA (Philippines) – The Italy versus United States Quarter-Finals will be a showdown of one team – the Europeans – thrilled about being in the final eight of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 while the Americans will look to bounce back from a loss to Lithuania to finish group play and get back on track to win the title.
The Italians came into the tournament flying under the radar and now Gianmarco Pozzecco’s men have the chance to shock the world. USA meanwhile have been impressive up until the loss against Lithuania. But USA are still alive to clinch world title number six and make up for their Quarter-Finals exit against France at China 2019.
Jaren Jackson Jr
Key Matchup: Trying to slow down Anthony Edwards naturally will be a tall task for Italy but the key matchup will be Nicolo Melli facing USA center Jaren Jackson Jr. The Americans were out-rebounded 43-27 against Lithuania, and Italy have crafty and veteran frontcourt players – who do not have great size. Rebounding – especially offensive rebounds – are always important. This matchup will have a big say in which team patrols the glass.
X-Factor: United States were outscored 31-12 in the first quarter against Lithuania. USA coach Steve Kerr emphasized after the game that his team cannot afford to come out of the gates slowly. If USA can get easy baskets early it will provide Italy a challenge to come back given the Europeans’ lack of scorers.
Also, expect USA to activate a particularly aggressive defensive pressure from the very start of the game. We saw that attitude in the second half against Lithuania and if USA can sustain that for 40 minutes, Italy is in trouble.
Stats Don’t Lie: Italy’s defense has bordered on amazing the last two games. First they limited Serbia to 76 points – 28.7 points below their average of 104.7 – and then held Dominican Republic to just 57 points – down from their average of 92 points. The Americans will enter the game averaging 101.4 points. What will their scoring average be after the game?
Past Matchups: United States hold a 12-2 all-time advantage over Italy, including wins in the last four games. Italy have lost 6 of their 8 World Cup games against USA, winning in 1970 and 1978.
Paolo Banchero
One special note about this game concerns USA power forward Paolo Banchero. The father of the 20-year-old Orlando Magic star is of Italian descent, and the Italian National Federation initiated contact with the player last summer. The NBA Rookie-of-the-Year 2023 decided to play for the United States.
They Said: “Whenever you play with heart you never want to play against my players, who never give up. They fight for every ball. They stay together. They support each other. That is amazing. They have talent of course. Without that you cannot achieve those results. But they are different than anybody else in the world.” – Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco
“We are fortunate that the loss (to Lithuania) doesn’t hurt us in terms of our goal, which is to win the gold medal. But it’s a great game for us to experience because this is FIBA. There are some great teams that have continuity and understand what they are doing and execute … We will have to learn to play a lot harder.” – USA coach Steve Kerr
FIBA
